How I Set Up Displays In My New Vintage Booth

I am sharing how I set up displays in my new vintage booth space. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun to set up beautiful display after beautiful display in my new booth. So I hope these antique booth tips help you in your own space!

After living in Texas and within a ten mile radius of my childhood home for most of my life I made the big move to Tennessee. First and foremost to be near my parents and secondly for a fresh start. As for my own home we will be remodeling my parents basement into my tiny home. 

In The Vintage Booth Business

This is not my first time to be one of those crazy booth owners! I started with a small booth close to my home in Texas. I quickly found out my vintage items were not what those customers were looking for. They were looking for handmade items and new items from boutiques.

I then moved into an antique mall booth close to my home. This mall, after eight months, had to close. The only location I could find to move to was one hour and forty minutes away. It was a great location with a cute downtown with lots of antique stores. But it wasn’t right for me. It was so far from home, the mall had rules in place that we could not restock on weekends which was nearly impossible because I worked full time and all vendors had to work two full days a month. It truly was exhausting.

Which is why, when I moved to Tennessee, my ultimate goal was to find a store in my local area whose other vendors matched my vintage vibe but wasn’t exactly the same as my vintage decor. 

And I found it! I got my own booth at the Clinch River Mercantile in Clinton, Tennessee. Let’s take a tour and see it all.

Furniture For Displays In My New Vintage Booth

When I left Texas I sold most of the furniture out of my home and antique booth inventory. So when I arrived in Tennessee I needed to purchase furniture for the booth display.

I found most of those furniture pieces at Bargain Hunters Antique & Flea Market Mall in Knoxville. You can watch my dad and I‘s visit to the mall here! It’s definitely a mix of every one of the greatest flea markets you’ve visited and a vintage market. As you wander this huge store it is a flea market booth then antique items and repeat. It really is great!

I purchased a short round table as an island piece and a bookcase from there. I purchased a side table from Facebook Marketplace, another one from one of the local thrift stores and a sofa table in a warm wood tone from Habitat For Humanity.

The Particulars Of My New Vintage Booth

The booth is an 8 foot x 12 foot space, which is the biggest I have ever been in. It has one beadboard wall. The other two walls are made of beautiful old full size doors plus two bi-fold doors which will stay. The back wall is a cinder block wall which makes it necessary for the doors in order to hang things from that wall. The third wall is also doors but two of them are angled which creates an adorable little nook area. I will be putting my fluff and stuff area in this little nook (more about that later!).

The Smalls For Displays In My New Vintage Booth

The focal point is a chicken nesting box on the back wall. Under the chicken nesting box is a sofa table that holds vignettes and my vintage flashcard display box. 

Under the sofa table is a cedar lined trunk that creates another display surface. On this is an ironstone bowl filled with hymn scrolls. 

In the corner next to the chicken nesting box is a desk that I brought from Texas that I repainted. Above this is a ladder that my dad and I built to place lightweight items on and hang any lights from. I think it’s important for every booth to have lots of lights. Hanging from above, lamps on surfaces and from your store’s overhead lights. Good lighting creates better sales because it creates an inviting atmosphere for customers to wander into.

On the beadboard wall I filled two shelves, which were the leaves from a dining room table, with home decor in light colors. 

Under this is my “welcome table”. It has a book for visitors to leave their name and email addresses in order to be included on my newsletter list. On this table are my price tags I used in previous booths that are now acting as small business cards. In this store the price tags are kept to be returned to the vendor so I wanted to make sure customers got the information about this blog, my shop for online sales, and my YouTube and other social media sites. 

Creating An Island For Displays In My New Vintage Booth

An “island” in a vintage booth is a grouping of furniture in the middle of your booth. It’s a great way to create traffic flow so the customers need to come in and walk around the whole booth. 

On my island I used the table from Bargain Hunters Antique & Flea Market Mall and stacked a chair and bench on top to create height and spaces for different vignettes. 

Seasonal Items For Displays In My New Vintage Booth

In the bookcase I arranged seasonal items. One shelf I displayed items that could be used to decorate your home for Valentine’s Day. I paired this with vintage turquoise ball jars.

See how to make those auction paddles here!

On other shelves I added items for Easter and St. Patrick’s Day. A good idea is to display, along with very specific holiday items, items of the same color or complimentary colors.

See how to make the wood bobbin carrots here.

The Fluff And Stuff Section In My New Vintage Booth

This section is filled with vintage ephemera, old patterns, trims and more for mixed media art, journaling and to add to vignettes. 

I have scrabble tiles organized by letter and the customer can choose which tiles they want, fill a bag and fill out a tag to take to the register.

Before You Fly Away To Create Displays In Your Vintage Booth

Good luck to every booth owner out there! Your booth will be amazing!

Pin any of the images to Pinterest so you can remember the great ideas in my new vintage and upcycled booth – hover over any picture to save the pin to your Pinterest account. So easy!

I’m Kristin, CEO aka Creative & Energetic Owner of The Fifth Sparrow No More. I’m so happy that you’re here! I want you to be able to find the beautiful in yourself and in your home. We will do that through learning what God says about us and decorating and DIYing in thrifty and purposeful ways.

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